1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition for the prevention and treatment of inflammatory diseases comprising a mixture of herbal extracts of Trachelospermi caulis and Pyrola japonica as active ingredients. More particularly, the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention comprises a mixture of herbal extracts of Trachelospermi caulis and Pyrola japonica mixed in a predetermined ratio thereby exhibiting superior inhibitory effects on pains, acute inflammation, secretion of enzymes associated with factors inducing inflammation, and production of NO, iNOS, etc., as compared to those prepared from single herbal drugs, thus being useful in the prevention and treatment of inflammatory diseases such as arthritis.
2. Background Art
Arthritis is a collectively term for a disease associated with inflammatory changes which occur within a joint region due to bacterial infection or external injuries. Arthritis is largely classified into two: acute arthritis and chronic arthritis.
Acute arthritis is further divided as follows. (1) Serous arthritis—generally caused by external injuries, but may occur due to unknown reasons. It generally occurs in one joint. (2) Serofibrinous arthritis—this occurs with the acute rheumatoid arthritis, and a turbid effusion is gathered in the articular cavity. This may cause dyscinesia even after inflammation is deteriorated due to the generation of pseudomembrane. (3) Supprative arthritis—multiple arthritis occurs in the open wounds of a joint or contagious diseases such as gonorrhea, typhoid, scarlatinal, and septicemic. Young infants of 1-2 months old may develop abarticulation due to the uncurable severe damage on bones. Adults often develop periosteomyelitis which causes rupture and allows the pus to be flowed into joints, so called secondary supprative arthritis.
Chronic arthritis can be further divided as follows.
(1) Specific type of inflammation—generally refers to a gouty arthritis caused by tuberculous arthritis or syphilitic arthritis or metabolic disorder in uric acid commonly occurring in middle aged men.
(2) Multiple arthritis—chronic rheumatoid arthritis is most common. This may be transited from the acute serous arthritis, may occur as a polyarthritis in the course of pneumonia, syphilis, and gonorrhea, or may be a kind of septicemia. In addition, Still's disease also belongs to this category.
(3) Arthritis deformans—generally caused by degenerative aging process or external injuries.
(4) Hemophiliac arthritis—caused by bleeding in the joints in a hemophiliac patient.
Degenerative arthritis is also called as ‘bone arthritis’. It is a local arthritis resulted from the change in degeneration of joint cartilage, and occurs mainly in middle aged or senior people. The main cause of the local arthritis appears to be aging because it occurs in about 85% of people of 55-65 years of age. It is reported that it occurs more frequently in women than in men, and is also more severe in women than in men. In addition, it occurs two times more frequently in obese people than in normal healthy people, especially in leg cartilages where body weights are loaded, for example, hip joints, knee joints, ankle joints, etc. It also occurs in end joints of hands. The arthritic pains usually come after excessive movements of joints or at evenings, and the symptoms are improved after rest.
The initial stiffness felt by a subject in the morning can be easily removed after body movement of for about 5-10 min. In case when the symptom is severe or progressed to some extent, and thus joints make a cracking noise during movement, and in a more severe case, joint movement is much restricted. Sometimes, joints which endure body weights, in particular knee joints, cannot be used at all but, after a while, the symptom is often recovered spontaneously without any special treatment. Generally, in about 35% of women and 15% of men who are aged 60 or older, the symptoms associated with degenerative arthritis are observed. The best therapeutic treatment to improve the symptoms is to do exercises or swim regularly to the extent suitable for each person, and an auxiliary exercise equipment may be used to assist the exercise. Examples of drugs to treat the symptoms are an anti-inflammatory and analgesic agent, an adrenocortical hormone agent, a cartilage protection agent, a surgery to inject a lubricant inside a joint, and the like. Many pharmaceutical drugs have been developed to be used for the treatment of the above-mentioned various kinds of inflammatory diseases represented by arthritis.
The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising herbal extracts thus eliminating the risk of adverse effects often raised in synthetic drugs. In fact, the toxicity test for a single administration of a herbal drug comprising the herbal composition of the present invention confirmed its safety.
The herbal composition of the present invention comprises extracts of Trachelospermi caulis and Pyrola japonica. Trachelospermi caulis is also called as Trachelospermum asiaticum var. intermedium Nakai, and climbing stems and branches of Trachelospermum sdisyivum var, intermedium nakai or Apocyanaceae. It grows as high as 5 m. Its petals are branched deep inside into five. White flowers of a pinwheel shape bloom in May-June and emits a good scent. It will bear fruits around September-November, where the two long fruits remind of a Chinese character representing a person, and they often form a round circle showing the shape of a bracelet. In fact, Trachelospermi caulis grows in the seashore, hillside or a barren tract in the Southern part of Korea, more specifically, on the rocks, walls, or grows creepers onto other trees or plants. In areas where Trachelospermi caulis is abundant, it is possible that other kinds of grasses may not grow but only the place may be clothed with Trachelospermi caulis. According to the ‘Dictionary of Oriental Medicine’ published by North Korea, Trachelospermi caulis is the one which dried the stems and leaves of Trachelospermum asiaticum var. intermedium Nakai. It has a bitter taste and is cold in its property from the viewpoint of oriental medicine. It acts on spasm on heart meridian, liver meridian, and renal meridian. It also eliminates wind-dampness blended as a pathogenic factor and promotes smooth interconnection of meridian system. Besides, it is useful to treat paralytic syndrome, cramps of limbs, lumbago, arthritic pains, tonsillitis, and rashes.
The active ingredients of Trachelospermi caulis are arctiin, arctigenin, tracheloside, matairesinoside, cymarose, etc. They are known to have vasodilating and hypotensive activities (Herb Medicinal Phamacology, LIM, Jongpil, p. 155-156(2003)).
Pyrola japonica is an evergreen perennial herb that belongs to Pyrola Klenze ex Alefeld. Yellowish white or white flower blooms at the end of a flower stem as a raceme between June and July, its fruits ripen as capsules in August. Its leaves and stems are used as a hemostatic agent and an antidote. It contains arbutin and methylarbutin in the amount of about 1% as active ingredients, and also comprises homoarbutin, quercetin, ursollic acid, oleanoic acid, etc. It is generally known useful for the treatment of high blood pressure and arthritic pains [The Encyclopedia of Chinese Crude Drug, J. H. Park, p. 139-140 (2002)].
However, there has been no study done yet to elucidate the efficacies of a pharmaceutical drug comprising mixed herbal extracts. Further, the old herbal encyclopedia such as Donguibogam, Hyangyakjipsungbang, Gwangjebigeup or other related references only briefly mention the efficacies of these herbal drugs from the viewpoint of oriental medicine and a method of preparing a decoction. In addition, there has been no report on the prescription for preparing a decoction from a mixed herbal drug. In fact, there has been no report on the efficacies of the active ingredients mentioned above extracted using the above method. Further, there has been no teaching on preclinical trial using an animal model or pharmaceutical efficacies such as anti-inflammatory and pain-releasing and analgesic effects.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art.